My Best Friends are Animals
by emmydisney17
Summary: After T.J. makes a wish on an enchanted Orchid he and his friends, Gretchen, Mikey, Gus, Spinilli and Vince shrink down to the size of rodents and end up in a whole new world filled with talking animals who live in the park as a community, rat gangs who have grudges aginst humans and two plots to steal nuts and to sabogate one that could exterminate all the animals in the park!
1. The Pizza Party and the Enchanted Orchid

**My Best Friends are Animals**

**The Pizza Party and the Enchanted Orchid**

_"My name is T.J. Detwiler and my two of my best friends are animals. It was all thanks to a very nutty plan with a lot of twists that me and my friends, Spinelli, Gus, Gretchen, Vince and Mikey became known as heroes to all the animals in the park. Just wait until you hear how it all happened. It all began one Tuesday as we were enjoying our favorite activity in school: Recess."_

We open on a school playground on one bright and cheery day as kids romped around and play games with each other before we zoom in one a group of kids, made up of four boys and two girls, hung out on a jungle gym they call 'Old Rusty'.

The first boy had brown hair under a red baseball cap, blue eyes and wore a green jacket, a white shirt, blue baggy pants and red and white sneakers. His name was T.J. Detwiler

The second boy was African American with black eyes and hair in a square cut and wore a green jersey with a yellow number one on it, a gray shirt under it, yellow wristbands dark gray shorts and white and black hi tops. His name was Vince LaSalle.

The first girl had raven black hair in two pigtails, chocolate brown eyes and wears a black biker jacket over a knee length shirt dress, Orange and red stripe leggings and large black boots. Her name was Ashley Spinilli or just Spinelli to her friends.

The second girl had reddish brown hair in pigtails, black eyes with large glasses, wearing a blue dress with a pink bow, pink socks and large brown shows. Her name was Gretchen Grundler

The third boy was larger then the kids and had blonde hair, blue eyes and wore a white shirt, brown pants and gray shoes. His name was Mike Blumberg

And the last boy had a short crop of blonde hair, wears gray glasses and wears a green shirt, dark green pants and brown shoes. His name Gus Griswald.

_"It was a nice and calm morning, partly cloudy and just the right time of day before lunch... but what me and my friends were in the mood for today for our lunch was some nice fresh..._

"Pizza truck!" Some kids shouted happily. The Recess gang sprang into action when they heard the exsited cries of the kids. Gretchen had used one of her inventions to disguise her voice and order a lot of pizzas to the school of 3rd street and sodas, all under Prickly's name. Prickly, or Princable Prickly, was always hard on the kids and cared only about what would benifit himself the most and that was one reason why the kids love to prank him all the time.

"Guys, you know what to do." T.J. said "Everybody know thier lines?"

"Yep" Spinilli said

"Indeed." Gretchen said

"I know what i do!" Gus said

"Me too!" Mikey said

"I'm up for it." Vince said

The Recess gang, as they were called, put their plans into action the moment they rushed up to the truck with costumes in their hands. The pizza man made his way to the door when a deep voice said "You there! It's about that you got here."

The man turned to see T.J, dressed like the princible, standing behind him and tapping his foot impacintly as the man said "I got the pizza you wanted sir... wait, are you Princlible Prickly?"

"Yes i am young man." T.J. said as Vince, dressed like a janitor tinkered with the back of the truck and motioned the others to fallow him inside and they too were dressed like janitors. "Now what can i do you for?"

"I got an order here from you saying you wanted some pizzas. About 25 of them." the pizza dude said

"Indeed i did." T.J. said in his gruff voice as the rest of the gang unloaded the pizza "Now let me see... where did i put that money... oh drats! I left it in my other pants back home."

Vince and the others took all the pizza away jusy in time before the angry pizza dute walked off with a huff and drove off. Once the pizza truck was gone T.J. ripped off his fake mustash and shouted "Pizza party!" the children cheered as T.J. and his friends handed out pizza to everyone as they cheered happily and ate as much pizza as they could until they're faces were dripping in tamato sause and grease.

* * *

After the party the five kids walked back home and T.J. said "Boy that pizza heist was one of the best plans we ever had."

"Next time, let's raid the ice cream man for all his choco-fudge suprimes!" Spinilli suggested before she stopped and said "Hey, what's that?"

The others fallowed her gaze until they saw something odd: It was a beautiful orchid with large pink petals and it was placed upon a soft peice of silk on the pavement and the flower itself was placed neatly inside a pretty brown vase with a note attached too one of it's leafs.

"Well... this is strange." Gretchen said "I wonder why this potted plant is doing here all by itself?"

"Maybe it's getting a tan?" Mikey said

"Very funny." Vince said "But really, why would anyone just leave this flower behind?"

"I don't know." T.J. said as he picked it up "But let's take it home anyway, i've been looking for a present for my mom's birthday anyway." With that the kids ran to catch the bus to get them home.

* * *

That very afternoon as T.J. placed the flower vase on the desk he looked at the card with curiosity until he noticed that it had some writing on it that looked like it was written in tiny print. He pulled out a magifying glass and read the tiny imprint and read it out loud "Write a wish upon a peice of paper, place it in the soil of the plant and the flower will make it come true. Signed Mother Nature."

T.J. couldn't help but snicker as he said "Mother nature, what a riot! What next? A watch from the people of pluto? A purse from a princess? maybe even an invatation to tea from trolls!" he laughed at his own joke and took out a pencil saying "Still... a little fun wouldn't hurt... now let's see... what should i wish for? A compleate collection of all my favotire comic books? no, to ovious... it's gotta be something good... but what?"

He looked outside his window and saw a squirrel scurring away on a tree branch and he thought long and hard before an idea popped in his head. "Ok yeah, he's a good one i'm sure that won't ever come true." he picked up a sheet of paper and wrote down "I wish that me and my friends were all as small as a squirrel!"

T.J. furled the wish and shoved it deep into the plant's soil.

The moment T.J. left his room for a drink of punch the peice of paper started to sink in the soil as the flower started to glow in a light shade of green. Soon T.J.'s wish would come true and neither he or his friends would be happy when they shrink down to size... or about how the change of size would change their point of view and more.


	2. Shrunken Down and The Escape

**Shrunken Down and The Escape**

The fallowing evening T.J. was home alone with his big sister Becky. He was sitting in his room, board and fiddling around on his desk, drawing new ideas for how to make Recess more fun then the pizza party when he heard some pebbles knocking on his window. He opned it and looked down to see his friends waving down at him.

"Hey Teej," Spinilli called out "We got several new ideas for tomorrow. Wanna hear them?"

"You bet." T.J. said "I haven't come up with anything."

"Then come on down!" Vince said

T.J. smiled and took out a rope his sister used at camp long ago and was about to tie it to his bed when suddenly he heared a thumping sound on his desk. He turned and gasped; the flower vase was hoping up and down like mad! The vase was shaking and the flower was glowing before it's petals curled up and with a powerful blast of primrose wind T.J. found himself sneezing as he staggered around the room before he tripped and ended up falling out the window with the wind fallowing.

He landed on top of his friends and they groaned and sneezed as well before they were engulfed in a thick blanket of primerose light before it turned white and then vanished.

The kids groaned and sneezed a few times before they finally stopped and T.J. said "Ugh, i've heard of flower power before, but give me a break!"

"That dust'll be stuck in my nose forever." Spinilli groaned as she picked her nose

"Oh my aching head." Gus said as he got out of the tangled gang and said "Well let's-aaaggghhhh!"

"What is it Gus?" Gretchen asked

"R-Remember that old toy badge dad had lend me for good luck? look!" Gus shouted as he pointed to something that made the kids gasp in shock. It was a worn old badge that looked like it could be used to play the part of a cop... only it was now it was as wide as Gus!

"Oh my gosh!" Gretchen gasped "It's... it's huge!"

"How did that happen?!" Mikey asked

"Look!" T.J. said as he pointed to some flowers "My mom's flowers... they've grown too!"

"Uh... i don't think they grew." Mikey said with a pale face and a scared expression to match "We... shrunk."

"But that's impossible Mikey." Gretchen said "How do you know?"

"Because of... them!" Mikey gulped as he pointed to some creatures crawling out of the shadows towards the kids. They were huge narly rats that had mangled fur, glowing red and yellow eyes and really bad body oder slowly approuching them with evil grins on their toothy faces.

"Are those... monsters?" Gus asked as he hid behind a terrified Gretchen

"More like...rats!" T.J. cried "GIANT Rats!"

"Look at this Butch." One rat told the other rat "It ain't every day we see humans our size before. Let's take them to the others."

"IT-IT TALKED!" Spinilli cried as the kids gasped "It really talked!"

"That's impossible!" Gretchen cried

"It must be a joke." Vince said "Nice tray Lawrence, but we know it's you." he marched over to the rat and tried to pull the mask off but with one big yank all he managed to pull off was a few of the rat's greasy hair. His face paled as he looked eye to eye at the rat and it let out a snarl that gagged him with bad breath and saliva.

"HE'S REAL!" T.J. screamed "RUN FOR IT!"

The Recess gang ran but everywhere they turned there were more rats. More and more rats cournered them and the kids screamed as the rats clawed at them, ripping holes in thier clothing and chewing thier shoes before they managed to escape and ran towards the front door of T.J.'s house as T.J. yelled "BECKY! BECKY OPEN UP! BECKY! BECKY HELP! THERE ARE RATS OUTSIDE TRYING TO KILL ME AND MY FRIENDS OUT HERE! CALL THE EXTERMINATOR! CALL ANIMAL CONTROL! CALL NOAH AND TARZAN! CALL THUMBELINA FOR ALL I CARE JUST LET US IN!"

Unfortunetly Becky was watching tv and didn't hear the tiny knocks or heared the tiny voices outside. The gang knew they were doomed as the rats chased after them and tackled them... then everything went black.

* * *

When T.J. woke up he saw the sun light shining through the broken glass of a greenhouse and he said "Ugh... my aching head... what happened? Where am i?" he sat up and saw lots of giant pots and flowers and vines, all just big enough for him to swing across like a jungle. T.J. shook his head and pinched himself. He gave out a 'ow!' and sat there in shock, he wasn't dreaming. He was really small.

"I can't believe this! Ugh! That stupid flower and that stupid note to mother nature! She did this to me... i wish i wished for a comic collection instead of being squirrel sized!"

"How about a bruise? On your head!"

T.J. turned and saw his friends right behind him and they were not happy "Oh come on guys," T.J. said "How was i suppost to know that flower could actually grant wishes? Besides, all we have to do is wish we were normal size again and then everything goes back to normal."

"Intresting thery," Gretchen said "But you seem to have forgotten something."

"What?" T.J. asked

"Them." Gretchen said as she pointed to the pile of sleeping rats scattered across the greenhouse, snoring away as flies flew around them.

"Oh yeah." T.J. said "Don't worry... all we have to do is tip-toe past these guys and then make a break for it. Then we'll plan our next move from there."

"Oh brother." Vince said "That's your master plan?"

"You got a better idea?" T.J. asked "Besides, if rats eat people's faces off in horror movies just think of what they can do to us now that we're this size?"

"Lead the way." Vince said quickly

T.J. and his friends tip-toed past the sleeping bodies of the rats as they slowly zig-zagged and dodged the tails and limbs of the rats. They were about half way there when Gretchen stopped, she was about to sneeze! She tried to hold it in but a fly bothered her and she let out a loud sneeze and accidently stepped on a rat's tail.

The rat screamed and the others woke up to see the kids running away and gave chase. The kids ran for their lives as they screamed and saw an old tire leaning on the tree nearby. They climbed into it and ended up rolling away from the rats... too fast. The tire ended up rolling so fast the kids were send on a crazy ride that pinned them to the tire and twisted them around as they screamed and the tire bounced up and down across the street until it crashed right into another tree at the bottom of the hill.

Green and dazed, T.J., Gretchen, Spinilli, Vince, Mikey and Gus poked their heads out of the top of the tire and T.J. said "Ugh... what a ride..."

"I am never going on any rides that twist and turn or look like tires again." Gus said

"Who's idea was this anyway?" T.J. asked

"Yours." the other said before they fell over and landed on the ground. T.J. just shrugged and fell over as well... unaware that sets of eyes were watching them.


	3. Meet the Park Animals

**Meet the Park Animals**

The Recess gang were still in a daze about what had happened and had ended up sleeping to calm down their nerves. The gang were too tired to even notice some park animals emerging from their hiding places after the tire had landed in their park and the first of those park animals came out, it was a blue rat with green eyes named Buddy who didn't say much but was more friendlier then the rats the gang had encountered.

Buddy hopped onto the top of the tire and looked into the hole of the tire to see the Recess gang. He couldn't believe it when he saw them, humans no bigger then himself! He hopped into the center and curiously approuched the nearest mini human, T.J. and loomed over him. T.J. snored as Buddy leaned over him and sniffed his head, getting his cap sucked off his head and on his nose before he sneezed and the cap landed with a smack on the boy's face, waking him up.

"Huh? What-what's going on?" T.J. said as he woke up and sat up. He came face to snout with Buddy, and let out a scream that made Buddy squeak and curl up in a ball. The other kids woke up and saw Buddy before they screamed and climbed out of the tire, encountering lots of park animals gathered around them before they all fainted once again, only this time out of the tire.

T.J. was still in shock but he had also noticed that Buddy did not attack him like the other rats. Buddy was cowarding in fear and he looked at the boy with fear in his eyes before he braced himself for a hit. T.J. had never seen a rat so afraid this close before and took pity on him. After all, this rat wasn't like the other rats, he didn't even smell like garbage!

He reached out and gently stroked Buddy's fur in a soothing manor. Buddy was worried this was going to be a trick but the way T.J. petted him was unlike anything he had felt before and he lifted his head and smiled as T.J. scratched his head and thumped his leg like a rabbit. T.J. smiled and said "You really like that don't you?"

Buddy nodded and T.J. said "So, what's your name?"

"Buddy!"

Then a purple Squirrel hopped over the tire and stood before Buddy, not noticing T.J. as he said "What's taking you so long? Or did you notice the mini march of humans that just-" then he turned to see T.J. and his jaw dropped before T.J. grinned and said "Uh... how you doing?"

"AAAGGHHHH!" Surly screamed before he climbed out and poked his head out as he said "Buddy, why aren't you running away in terror?"

"He's not scared of me." T.J. said

"How can he not be scared of you?!" Surly asked "You're a miniature human and what's even more freaky is that your talking! And both facts are counted for as not normal!"

"And the same goes with me somehow being able to understand you." T.J. said

Surly realized what T.J. ment and he said "You... you really can understand what i'm saying?"

"Yeah, your talking plain english!" T.J. said "Or... am i talking animal?"

Surly stared at the boy before he shook his head and said "Well, talking or not your still freaky."

"No arguments on that." T.J. said "But, could you help me out of this tire?"

Buddy hopped out and Surly sighed before he lowered his tail and T.J. grabbed it before the squirrel pulled him out and T.J. stumbled before he got his balance on the tire. The boy was amazed as he climbed down and looked at the animals. They were huge compaired to him and he knew that he had to make a good impression on them or else they might think of him as a freak.

T.J. waved his hands and said "Hi there folks! Uh, nice morning isn't it?"

Then a red squirrel came out of the croud as did a gray one that went over to the other kids. The red squirrel was amazed as she looked at T.J. curiously and she said "This... this is incridible! Humans... no bigger then us! Are they're more where your from?"

"No no, let me explain." T.J. said "I made a wish on a magical flower that turned out to actually be real and the wish was to be no bigger then you, but i thought it was just a gag but then the next thing me and my friends new... we were here and this size!"

"Well... i never thought a flower could shrink humans." The red squirrel said "But since you say it was magical... oh wait, where are my manners? I'm Andie. And you are?"

Before T.J. could answer he heard a scream and turned to see his friends had woken up and were cowarding in fear of the gray squirrel before them who had grabbed Gus' glasses and put them on "Wow! Why does everyone look so blurry?"

"Grayson!" Andie exclaimed "Give those humans back thier... thing now."

"Ok." Grayson said before he handed Gus back his glasses and he put them on happily. "He can have them, it made my eyes hurt anyway." Grayson said as he walked towards Andie and T.J. as he said "And who's this little guy?"

"I was going to ask him myself." Andie said before she turned to T.J. "And you are?"

"T.J." T.J. said "And the others you scared to death are my friends Gus, Mikey, Vince, Spinilli and Gretchen. Nice to meet you... are you the guy in charge here Andie?"

"I'm a female." Andie said with a frown. Surly snickered and let out a laugh at the thought of T.J. mistaking Andie for a guy and rolled over laughing. T.J. pulled his hat over his face in embarresment before a mouse shouted "SCRAM! HERE THEY COME!"

The animals dropped whay they were doing and ran for cover as T.J. cried out "Hey wait! What are you talking about? Who's coming?" then they felt the ground shake and the mini kids looked up to see, much to their shock, giant kids running towards them and the kids screamed as they ran for their lives, trying to avoid the stomping feet of the giant shoes that were quickly catching up to them.


	4. It's Tough to be Small

**It's Tough to be Small**

When we last left The Recess gang they were busy trying to keep themselves from being sqashed by a horde of giant kids. They screamed as sneakers, hi-tops and tennis shoes stomped all over and the kids were forced to dive bomb into a groundhog hole to avoid being smashed into peices.

The recess gang sighed as they gasped for breath and Gus said "Whoo, and i thought i had enough problems being the short guy before."

"Yeah, now i know how how a mouse feels." Vince said

Then they came face to face with three groundhogs named Jamie, Jimmy and Johnny and they screamed in union with the animals before they crawled out of the hole. Then as they recovered a scooter snatched up Mikey and he screamed as he hung on for dear life and the scooter zoomed across the path and the rest of the kids tried to catch up but were left behind in the dust.

Mikey clung to the scooter with all his might but as it made a sharp turn the force flung him off and he landed front first in a pile of fresh mud. Mikey spat out some mud as the recess gang finally caught up to him, riding the back of a tricycal before they jumped off and ran up to him as Spinilli shouted "Are you okay big guy?"

"Pah!" Mikey said as he spat out more mud "Ugh, now this is what i call playing dirty."

"Man, it's not so easy being the smallest in a world this big." Gus said "And i thought they were tough before."

"Perhaps, being the giants we were before, we neglet to understand how small creatures like rats and Squirrels like the ones we meet had to go along avoiding trouble for centeries, such as big wheels, big feet, posions and even bigger animals." Gretchen said "Even i have come to understand what dangers of being such a size you may encounter. Like those rats."

"I remember." Vince said "And i don't ever want to expereance that again."

"Speaking of those rats, how is it possible they can suddenly talk?" Spinilli asked

"That i am, for the first time in my life, clueless about." Gretchen said "But i think the plausable answer here is that is mut be because we shrunk... and that flower... maybe that flower has more answers."

"But it's at my house!" T.J. moaned "How are we going to get back to my house when we can't even outrun a trike?"

"Now that would pose a problem." Gretchen said

"I suggest we don't walk back home, it'll take forever if we go back on foot." Vince said "We need a plan."

"Why don't you just climb a tree?"

The kids looked up and saw Surly leaning on a tree root nearby with his arms crossed and a grin on his face as he said "Incridible, first humans to ever come in contact with us from this size and you're already thinking about wanting to go home? If you ask me, you'll never make it back alive as long as your unsupervised or have someone with expereance."

"He does have a point." Gretchen said "We are kids and everyone knows that children must be supervised or kept somewhere safe like a school or a day care."

"And unlucky for you this is neither." Surly said. He marched up to them and said "Don't ask me for directions because the only places i'm interested in are places that have nuts in them. But if you want to survive then you're going to have to talk to me about a few rules... that is if you think you don't need my help."

"We can survive a lot longer then you can fuzzball!" Spinilli shouted angrily, offended by the fact the squirrel actually offered them rules on how to survive "You're talking at a kid who's famose for breaking noses more then she broke sticks back in camp!"

"Were you big or small back then?" Surly asked with a grin.

Spinilli huffed but crossed her arms and turned her head, refusing to speak.

"Fine, whatever." Surly said "It's not my problem anyway. I'm not anybody's nanny or wet nurse anyway."

They heard a whistle and turned to Buddy, who was holding a scrap of papper and waving to Surly, telling him to come over to where he was in body language.

"Well, can't say i didn't try." Surly said "But if you 'fearless nose breakers' give up, just let me now ok? Because believe you me... it's tough to be small. Take it from a guy with expereance." and with that he left with Buddy.

"I can't believe it." T.J. said "I mean, who does he think he is!? Princible Prickey!? Well, i say we can handle things our own way. I say we put our outdoors skills to the test and do what they do on those TV shows! SURVIVE! Now who's with me?!"

"Yeah!" the kids cheered

* * *

CRASH!

That very night the Recess kids were huddled under a pile of leaves attached to twigs that made one crummy tent while T.J. sat outside trying to rub two sticks together to make fire but it wasn't doing any good since his sticks were wet as was he was.

"This is not getting us anywhere is it?" Spinilli asked

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way." Gretchen said "Maybe we should've asked for help when the squirrel, i mean Surly, offered us."

"Forget it!" T.J. said "I'm not moving from this spot until i see a spark!"

"Oh forget it pal, those sticks are too wet to work anyway and so are you." Vince said "Just give it up."

"Smartest thing i've ever heard in hours." T.J. admitted before he marched up to his friend and sat down with the others... before their tent collapsed on top of them and T.J. shouted "OH GREAT! I HATE THIS! HATE! HATE! HATE IT!"

From on top of a tree not to far away from the boy's shouts Surly turned to Buddy saying "Music to my ears pal. They'll be begging for our help in no time. Then the fun will really begin."

On another tree Andie watched the kids sadly before she said "Maybe leaving them out wasn't such a good idea." and went back into her hole as T.J. shouted "HOW CAN THIS STUPID DAY GET ANY WORSE!?" Then an acorn fell on his head and he snapped "Oh, so now you think this is funny tree? GREAT! I'M TALKING TO A TREE NOW! I'M TALKING TO A TREE!"


	5. Surly's 101 Survival Class

**Surly's 101 Survival Class**

The next morning was a bright and sunny day and the Recess kids were snoring away under the shade of some disgarded old socks that lost it's smell of bare feet. Mikey was the first to stir, he yawned and stretched and said to himself "Oh what a fine morning it is, the birds singing, the air so fresh, and..." he opened his sandy eyes to find Buddy and Andie staring right at his face.

"AAAGGGHHHH!" Mikey screamed

"AAAGGGHHH!" The other kids screamed as they woke up with a jolt.

Buddy jumped into Andie's arms in shock and surprise due to the screams and they both fell down as the kids backed away until they hit the trunk of the tree. From up above they heard Surly laughing and he rolled around on the branch he was on as he cried "Oh man! That was rich! If you keep doing that you'll probably end up becoming our own personal alarm clocks!"

The kids recovered and they watched as Surly climbed down as Gus said "That was not funny! I nearly wet myself when Mikey screamed!"

"You'd scream too if you had giant animals staring at you right in the face." Mikey said as he pointed to Andie and Buddy "No offence."

Surly reached the bottom and stood before them and said "Ok, Ok... i can tell you need some serious help. But if you want to survive another day as shrimpy pea wees, and make a better sleeping area while you're at it, then you better listen to me."

"I'm willing to do anything." Vince said "I don't ever wanna go though another night like that again."

"Whimp." Spinilli said

"Said the kid who's got a giant lady bug on her head." Surly said

Spinilli looked up to see a ladybug on her head and she yelped as she jumped around and swat at her head as the lady bug flew off and she cried "Get it off! Get it off!"

Surly fell over laughing again and Spinilli got angry at his joke while the other kids tried so hard not to giggle or else they'd be beaten by Spinilli.

* * *

A while later Surly had calmed down he face the kids as he said "Ok, Survival 101. Class is now in session. One of the simpliest rules i ever had to learn what that it's dangerous down below where giants stomp around and drive around in their giant machines and feirce animals they call pets. So before someone giant stomps on you or a dog tries to chomp you you better climb up something fast. Now who's first?"

The kids looked up the gigantic oak tree and Gus said "Uh... all the way up there? Don't we at least get some climbing gear?"

"Climbing gear?" Surly asked "The only thing you can use here if your claws and paws... but you don't have either do you?"

The kids looked up at the tree again before Vince said "Ok... i'll go first." he hopped up the tree and tried his best to climb it before he grabbed a peice of bark... and it peeled off and Vince fell before he landed on the ground with the peice of bark over his head.

"Unless giving Oak trees a shave counts as survival i say you just got zero points." Surly said with a sigh.

* * *

Later the kids were gathing nuts as Surly said "Ok, next rule of survival is that when you see any kind of food, grab it to lunch or loose it and starve. Now who's good at storing food in their mouths?"

"None of us." Spinilli said If we try and stuff outselfs with one nut it'll break our cheeks!"

"Then how are you going to carry the nuts back to your sleeping area?" Surly asked

"We could aways carry them by hand." Mikey said as he picked up a few more nuts... but then fell over and said "Uh... a little help here?'

"Oh brother." Surly said as he rolled his eyes.

* * *

Later Buddy and Grayson stood before one end of a discarded jump ropes as Andie held the other end over a bubbling river as Surly stood there with the Kids saying "Ok, now for the next test. Balance. See if you can get across this cap and reach Buddy and Grayson without falling over."

"Oh no," Gretchen said as she shook her head and sweat at the sight of the test the squirrel wanted them to face "I'm not a tight rope walker, i'm a genius. There's a big diffrence."

"I'll do it." T.J. said before he hopped on the rope and slowly walked over to the other side but Surly was getting impacent and he shouted "Can't you go any faster kid?"

"I'm going as fast as i can!" T.J. shouted but then he lost his balance and he fell over and landed in the middle of the river with a splash.

"Have no fear!" Grayson shouted "The Park Hero is here!" and with that he dove into the water and resurfaced on his back as he shouted "Don't worry mini human, i'll save you!"

"How about we just stand up instead?" T.J. asked as he stood over the gray squirrel, soaking wet but alive and standing in the waters.

"Huh? Oh, right!" Grayson said as he sat up "I knew that, i was just testing you. You know from up there shallow and deep waters kinda look the same."

Surly laughed and Andie sighed while Buddy just stared on. "Oh, that was rich." Surly said as he giggled at Grayson's humiliation "I wish i had that stupid face of his on camera!"

"Uh Surly?" Andie asked "Don't you think that these... Survival 101 classes aren't working for them?"

"Oh come on Andie," Surly said "Can i help it if they clearly don't have claws or expandable cheeks or even tails?"

"Something tells me that there's another reason you're doing this to them." Andie said "Are you trying to tourment them so much they'd run away and head out into the world alone?"

"Maybe..." Surly said with a grin "But Really Andie... When was the last time humans were ever nice to us? Did they ever leave a giant bag of nuts for us when we were kids? No! They never even dedicated a holiday after us either. So i suggest that when oprotunity knocks, answer it."

Andie sighed and thought _'I have a bad feeling about what Surly's got planned for them in the next test."_


End file.
